The Charter

The Charter represents the commitment from industry and organizational leaders to create a workplace culture based on the principle that the effective management of health and safety is essential to long term profitability and sustainability.

The BC Safety Charter is an initiative of the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC.

2

Change begins with the BC Safety Charter

3

Your signature is the first step towards a change in workplace safety culture.

4

Our Mission: Engage senior executives in becoming corporate leaders where health and safety are valued as critical elements of their businesses.

5

Our Vision: To have all BC business leaders and their organizations adopt the mission of this Health & Safety Leadership Charter.

The Journey

A small group of industry leaders within the food and beverage processing and manufacturing industry in BC determined that injury rates in their industry and throughout the province were too high and they decided to do something about it.

It was decided that the solution must come from industry leaders taking the initiative to establish a culture of health and safety throughout the industry and at their own companies.

The Charter represents that first step in that journey. By committing to the principles enshrined in the Charter, the CEOS and Senior Executives at Leading Performance 2011, a day-long conference on health and safety that included speakers and attendees from Rio Tinto Alcan, Pacific Environmental Consulting, Andrew Peller Ltd., Agropur, Soprema, Tinhorn Creek Winery, as well as many of the province’s top leaders from the manufacturing sector, committed themselves to solving the issue.

The Conference was organized and hosted by the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC, a non-profit association representing BC’s food and beverage processing and manufacturing industries.

By setting the standard of excellence and encouraging other industry leaders to join in the initiative Charter, signatories have issued a challenge to their peers to be part of that solution.

The 22 inaugural signatories set a goal of having 150 of BC’s senior executives sign the Charter by 2015.

Purpose

The purpose of the Charter is to bring together CEOs who understand that the effective management of health and safety is essential to long term profitability and sustainability of their companies and to spread the message to as many leaders in the corporate world as possible.

The business case for health and safety is well documented. By working together we hope, not only to drive profits and productivity up but bring injury rates down, establishing ourselves as corporately responsible citizens and making a difference in the shape of health and safety in BC industry. The 22 inaugural signatories have set a goal of having 150 of BC’s senior executives sign the Charter by 2015.

“I believe that it is possible to achieve ‘zero injury’ in the workplace and the path towards this is our focus at Rio Tinto Alcan in British Columbia. By demonstrating, on a daily basis, clear ‘leadership in action’ and employee engagement we are able to instill a mindset that each and every element of a work action is an opportunity to improve. No task is so urgent or important that it cannot be done safely.”

“We have made premium savings of six figures since embarking on our health & safety initiative to continually improve our performance.”

Derek CampbellGeneral Manager, Gate Gourmet YVR, Charter Signatory.

“We went through hell on wheels, but the trust we developed through our drive to reduce accidents paid off in a hundred different ways.”

Ben HumeChair of The Charter Steering Committee, Charter Signatory

“As senior business leaders, we have the most incentive to re-orient the punitive dynamic of traditional health and safety regimes to one based on prevention. Forward-thinking companies will recognize that the time has come to apply the success found in other areas of modern enterprise to the culture of Health & Safety programs.”

Why Sign?

The purpose of the Charter is to bring together CEOs who understand the principle that the effective management of health and safety is essential to the long term profitability and sustainability of their companies and spread the message to as many leaders in the corporate world.

The business case for health and safe is well documented. By working together we hope, not only to drive profits and productivity up but bring injury rates down, establishing ourselves as corporately responsible citizens and making a difference in the shape of health and safety in BC industry.